Terms of Use
by A Midnights Dream
Summary: "She knew it then, as she looked into the grinning, jackal-like faces of the Hitachiin twins: She never should have made them those coupons." Haruhi makes the twins favor coupons for their birthday. But her thoughtful gift quickly gets used against her.
1. Ambiguous Terms

**Terms of Use**

**-By A Midnight's Dream-**

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters or themes belonging to the series Ouran High School Host Club nor have ever claimed to. So if you're with SOPA, then get off my ass.

* * *

"Happy Birthday Kaoru and Hikaru!" The Ouran High School Host Club all shouted in unison.

Today was the Hitachiin twin's seventeenth birthday. The invitations they had passed out said that the small party would take place at their beach-front estate, and that all attendees must present their invitations at the gate. It also said, in very obscene terms, to wear something Hawaiian themed. Really, Haruhi thought, all the 'fancy airs' they put on weren't necessary. It was only the guys from the club, not like some fancy dinner party or something. The sun hung low near the western horizon and cast the quaint little patio the party was seated on in a pleasantly warm pink light. The rushing waves of the ocean could be heard over the towering dunes that surrounded them, and there was a slight taste of salt in the air.

All the members of the club were dressed in seasonal Hawaiian shirts to try and escape the smothering affects of early June's humidity. Even Haruhi wore a modest but very flattering floral dress. But still, the cloth stuck to their young bodies which were lightly coated in sweat.

"Go on Kao-Chan! Hika-Chan! Blow the candles out and make a wish!" Huni-Sempai exclaimed from the top of Mori's shoulders, the strong silent male adding an 'mmmm' in agreement.

"Give us a minute, would ya?" Hikaru, the older of the two twins, whined.

"Yeah," His slightly more mature brother concurred. "You can't expect us to come up with a wish right off the bat. These things take careful consideration, you know…" As the red head let his sentence fade away a mischievous look glinted in both of the Hitachiin's eyes, focusing their attention on their fair haired king.

"Hnnm?...Hey, wipe those smirks off your faces, you little devils! I swear if you two even so much as-" Tamaki ranted on, but Haruhi just sighed and tuned them out. She'd perfected the art very early on during her second semester.

"Hate to be a bother." Kyoya's voice cut through the clamor like a cold, impersonal knife. "But the candles are melting. If you want to make a wish, you should do so quickly."

"Aaah, alright, alright. Ready Kaoru?"

"You bet, Hikaru."

Lacing their fingers together, they both inhaled a big breath and then blew the candles out in unison. As cheers and clapping rose up in the silence afterwards, Haruhi began to think about how much the twins did things together like that: seamlessly, at the same time, like they'd rehearsed for hours.

"Yaaaaaaaay! Aha ha!" Huni-Sempai laughed, dancing around atop Mori's broad shoulders. "Now it's time for cake!"

"Not so fast." Hikaru said, crossing his arms over his flat chest to which Kaoru quickly followed suit.

"We want to open our presents first." His twin finished.

"Well, you guys are the birthday boys." Haruhi interjected with her famous warm smile before Huni could raise an argument. "I think we can all wait to have a little cake." Promptly after this statement came a sad whining noise from the heights of Mori's shoulder tops.

"Come then." Hikaru smirked, turning his small nose into the air snootily, and clapped his hands twice as if commanding his servants. "Bring on the first present."

A medium sized box wrapped in green wrapping paper with a yellow ribbon was slid in front of them first. "This gift is from Huni and Mori-Senpai." Kyoya announced nobly as the two twins dug their feverish fingers into the shiny, green wrapping paper. The twins lifted the top of the white box that was underneath, anticipation turning the corners of their mouths up into excited smiles. Soon after seeing the boxes contents, however, their faces fell into looks of mild puzzlement."Lady Godiva chocolates?" They both asked in unison.

"Mmmhm! They come from America!" Huni said with much vigor. "You guys are gonna share, right?"

"Why would we share our birthday prese-" They began to ask, but were silenced from staring into the large watery depths of their sempai's chocolate colored orbs that threatened to spill over with fresh tears. "Uhh…we mean…sure."

"Yaaayyyy!"

"See, Mitskuni?" Mori uttered in his rare, deep voice. "Waiting is a good thing."

"Mmmhmm!"

The twins went through the rest of their gifts with little incident and many muffled thank you's. In all, Haruhi had to say that their small pile of gifts probably amounted to more money than her father earned in a year. Not for the first time she cursed her cohorts for their nonchalant-ness with spending frivolous amounts of money.

"Okay." Kaoru said, tossing aside Tamaki's beleaguering gift of 'I'm with stupid' T-shirts. "Now Haruhi, where's your gift?"

The heroine looked faintly taken with surprise as the attention of the entire group turned to look at her. "Well…." She mumbled, averting her gaze while scratching the back of her head.

"Aww come on." The brothers whined in unison. "Don't tell us you didn't get us anything for our birthday."

Haruhi felt her hand slightly crush around the twin's papery gift she held behind her back. Not for the first time, she began to wonder if this plan was a bad idea from the start. She could even remember herself thinking about what to get the duo for their birthday and was quickly lost in the current of a flashback.

"_Haaa, I wonder what I should get Kaoru and Hikaru for their birthday?"She sighed out loud as her iron heated up, her flat voice bouncing off the walls of her empty apartment. "I mean, for crying out loud they're rich, what else could they want?...Maybe I could make them something." She began to think, but then quickly dismissed the idea. The two would probably choke down a sob while trying to keep tears from spilling down their cheeks and tell her that whatever she made them was worth more than any respectable piece of art. All in an effort not to bruise her '_fragile commoner self esteem'._ "No. Definitely not." The heroine's eyebrow twitched in annoyance as she slammed the iron down on the next unfortunate piece of laundry. "I'll have to think of something else…"_

And so she had decided on this.

Haruhi let out an almost reluctant sigh before handing each of the twins an identical envelope from behind her back. "Here…" She said in her usual flat tone. It was obvious from the look of surprise on Hitachiin twin's faces that they hadn't expected to get anything at all from her. She was about to say something to snap them out of their stupor when Kaoru leaned forward and plucked the envelope out of her hand, Hikaru quickly doing the same.

The duo quickly opened the envelopes with a look of eagerness, as if they were genuinely interested in what kind of gift could be so small as to fit between two pieces of stiff paper? As they opened the cards, two dollar-sized pieces of white paper fluttered out from the creases, and fell to the table. The twin's didn't seem to notice though, and continued to read Haruhi's neat, italicized sentiments written therein. Both of the brother's tan cheeks tinted a light pink as they finished reading their cards.

"Wow…"

"Thanks, Haruhi." Kaoru muttered, suddenly feeling shy.

Haruhi smiled, the small motion reaching up into her eyes, making them close. "You're welcome guys. I'm glad you liked your-"

"Now wait a minute." Hikaru said suddenly, picking up one of the pieces of paper that fluttered out from his card earlier. "What's this thing?"

"Oh yeah," Kaoru added.

Crap. Why couldn't they have blown away in the wind and be lost forever, Haruhi thought? If she knew they were going to be happy with just the cards she honestly never would have gone through the trouble of making these things in the first place.

"I saw these things fall out earlier. But I thought they were just checks so I ignored them."

After a brief, and very unattractive, noise Haruhi fell over backwards, causing the small patio to shake from the crash. "Ugh…damn rich kids…" She cursed though a mouthful of sand.

"Hunh? No way!" Kaoru exclaimed and Hikaru gasped beside him. Their amber colored eyes had gone huge and were fixed to the pieces of paper held in their hands.

"What? What is it, guys?" Tamaki asked.

The Hitachiin twins flashed their notorious grins before flipping the paper over to show the group what looked like a cheap imitation of a U.S. dollar scrawled in pen on the other side, only with a chibi drawing of Haruhi drawn in the middle of the bill instead of the president. "We got four 'Haruhi-favor ' coupons!"

Sounds of surprise and amusement went around the group of hosts, all leaning in closer to get a closer look at said coupon. All except for Kyoya, that is.

"W-What!" Tamaki shrilled, his face turning the same color as a ripe tomato. "And pray tell, just _what_ is a 'Haruhi coupon?' Hmm?"

"It's a Haruhi-_favor_ coupon." The brunette corrected. "And I don't see why you're making such a big deal out of it, Senpai. It just says that I owe them a favor. That's all. Like, if they want me to carry their books or if they want me to help them study or….What?" She asked after receiving a collective group of 'is she serious?' stares from the club and two suspicious looking grins from the twins.

"Haruhi." Tamaki dropped his voice down to a low whisper and ushered her over to the edge of the patio, ensuring that the twins wouldn't hear. "Do you have any idea what those two dimwits are capable of? They'll use those coupons to make you do terrible things! I swear it!"

"Knock it off, Senpai." Haruhi said, stepping to the side so that Tamaki fell forward into the sand. "Kaoru and Hikaru wouldn't do something like that, right guys?" She asked, casting her voice over her shoulder, and was sorry at what she found waiting on the twin's faces. They were doing it again. Looking into each other's identical amber eyes while a menacing smirk quirked their mouths to each side. "Uhhh….guys?"

"You thinking what I'm thinking, Kaoru?"

"You know it brother."

"Hey wait a minute, just what are you two thinking?" Haruhi asked, taking a step backward. She knew it then, as she looked into the leering, jackal-like faces of the Hitachiin twins: She never should have made them those coupons.

"We've made our decision."

"For our first coupon, we want you to have a sleep over with us….tonight." They both finished together, letting the last word fall through the silence like a heavy hammer.

"No way." Haruhi's answer was quick, and blunt, causing the twin's expression to do a 180 in terms of emotion.

"But it says right on the coupon 'no questions asked.'" Hikaru whined.

"Yeah for like school related things and stuff."

"_And stuff?"_ The brothers added, wriggling their eyebrows.

Haruhi flushed. "You know what I mean."

"I'm afraid I don't, Haru-chan." Hikaru smirked, fanning himself with the coupons as he leaned back in his chair. "Unfortunately the terms on the coupon are very vague. There isn't even an expiration date on it."

"Honestly. Who taught you how to make a coupon?" Kaoru added, leaning his cheek on to his fist.

Haruhi's mouth rounded into an outraged 'o'. "No one did, I made the damn things because-"

"Well it's not our fault if the terms of the coupon are ambiguous, now is it?" The two asked in unison, throwing up their hands in defeat.

"I'm afraid they're right, Haruhi." Kyoya said pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "With no apparent rules or regulations written down on the coupon to say exactly what you mean the use of the coupon is left to the discretion of the owner." The second-year relayed the bad news with a chillingly cheerful smile. Across the table the twins beamed at him.

Haruhi's hand clenched into a fist at her side._ "Why in the heck would he take their side in this?"_ She thought, cursing her senpai in a rippling after-thought. But mostly she cursed herself; she cursed herself for her own foolishness. How could she not see this coming? In reality she had a feeling something like this would happen, but it never really seemed like a possibility. Honestly, how dense could she be?

She realized the entire party had gone silent, and everybody was staring at her while they waited for her to answer with her decision. Her brown orbs flickered over the faces of the twins, who had their lower lips pouted out in an admirable attempt to persuade her. She still had an essay to write. And then there was the five page essay for another scholarship and summer reading. Not to mention she still had to do the laundry and do a whole bunch of spring cleaning. But what kind of person—no—what kind of _friend_ would she be if she didn't take her own coupon's seriously?...and besides…it was their damn birthday, after all. Finally, she sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose between her fingers. "….Fine. I guess I could do the lau-"

Instantly the Hitachiin brother's broke out of their wicker chairs and rounded the table to dance with Haruhi. "Yaaaaaayyyyy!" They cried together. "Sleep-ov-er! Sleep-ov-er! Sleep-ov-er!" They chanted, much to the dismay of their club's president that looked as if he were about to turn into a mushroom in the cloud of gloom that surrounded him.

"C'mon Haruhi!" One of the twin's said, casting his voice over his shoulder purposely so that his leader would hear. "Let's go play house!"

Tamaki's ear twitched.

"No, Kaoru!" His brother yelled louder. "Let's play _dress up!_"

"THAT'S IT!" Tamaki boomed, his entire eyes bleached white with rage. "I won't stand for this! Unhand my daughter, you heathens!" The remaining group of host's only had time to cough and shut their eyes as their king took off in hot pursuit of the sleepover trio, leaving a cloud of dust in his wake.

"Aaah? Hey wait!" Huni called, and then slumped back into Mori's shoulders with a small whimper, defeated. "…We didn't even get to eat any cake…"

And so began Haruhi Fujioka's first sleepover.

* * *

**Hey gang! So yeah, as you can see this story is NOTHING like that last one's I've posted. This thing is incredibly short compared to my other stories. In fact, you could say that this story was part of the whole big distraction picture.**

**Reader: so that's where this story came from so suddenly. Usually she takes FOREVER just to write something.**

**Me: I'm not going to try and fight that one. But anyway, it's just a fluffy story that I've written and depending if you guys like it or not I might post the second chap (which is short too :p) on Thursday, possibly Wednesday. **

**Tah tah!**

**And now, an excerpt from my crazy ass dreams:**

_On 8/29/11 I had a dream that me and my friend Marcus and Ally were leaving my skewl and were gonna go bowling (I don't know why, I hate bowling). But then all of a sudden we decided we wanted to go out to eat. So we got into my car and drove through the wall of the restaurant. My sister, who was driving, forgot to put the car in park and got out to go order something and we nearly rolled into this elderly couple sitting at a table. Then I put the car in reverse and started to back the car out of the building and drove backwards down the road. Now here's where it gets weird: All of a sudden my car turned into a shopping cart and we were going a hundred and twenty miles an hour in a twenty zone. Then somehow the cart was on a make shift roller coaster with no tracks or guides. They were just wooden boards all nailed to each other! Eventually I got thrown out and I had t walk to the end of the track. Apparently the track ended in my living room where my mother had decided to install a giant, singing rooster statue. _

**And then I woke up to an ordinary day.**


	2. The Third Coupon

**-Terms of Use-**

Chapter Two: The Third Coupon

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters or themes belonging to the series Ouran High School Host Club nor have ever claimed to. So if you're with SOPA, then get off my ass.

* * *

With a heavy sigh Haruhi pulled up the skirts of her dress and drew it around her legs, tucking it under her as she sat down on the lonely wooden bench that faced the private beach of the Hitachiin estate. The wood creaked under her weight. Judging by the bench's faded color, and how smooth it had become from the wind, Haruhi guessed that it had been a long time since someone sat on it. Sighing once again she sat back and relished the peaceful silence, and the rhythmic sound of the waves rushing in and then out…in….and out..

"Haaaaa…." This is what she lived for: Peace and quiet. Of course it wasn't always _painful_ to be around other people. She could put up with things like parties and get-togethers just fine…..most of the time. But when things got too loud or too overwhelming she always found some way to retreat somewhere; whether it was mentally or literally. Like right now.

"Hnn.." Leaning her cheek into her fist, she watched the frothy waves and tried to think back to the beginning of the evening when this whole fiasco began:

* * *

"This one?" Kaoru asked, holding up a red dress with a bunch of white frills.

"No."

"How 'bout this one?" Hikaru suggested, admonishing what appeared to be a collection of strings.

"Absolutely not."

"Alright then—this one?"

"UUugh! No! For the millionth time no! You guys know I don't like wearing this sort of stuff." Haruhi said exasperated.

"Aaah-aah-aaah." The Hitachiin siblings chided, wagging their finger. "Remember? We officially used our second coupon on this. So you _have _to comply."

Of course, when the brothers said _this_ they were really talking about the small dinner party that Tamaki pretty much _demanded_ they have. His reasoning? : "_If I _must_ leave my precious Haruhi alone with you doppelgangers I will only do so after I've supervised for as long as I can. Do not fret Haruhi…I promise I won't let the likes of these devils spoil your innocence."_

While his promise was noble, it didn't exactly get her out of this situation either.

"Besides," Hikaru said, bringing her back to reality and placing his hands on his hips "You can't honestly think that monstrosity you call a dress is decent enough to wear to a dinner party?" He raised a slender brow as he looked Haruhi up and down.

Such an action made Haruhi feel self conscious suddenly. She looked down at her dress that she'd bought for half off at the local used clothes store and frowned. "…..What's wrong with what I'm wearing?"

"She's completely hopeless, isn't she?" The twin's seemed to ask no one in particular.

* * *

"Gentleman!" Hikaru and Kaoru announced to the group of hosts seated around the large oak dining room table. Both had their hands on the handles to a set of double doors leading out into the hallways from the dining room. Tamaki danced in his seat with anticipation. "We present to you the Rebirth of Haruhi Fujioka!" At the last word the two males pulled open the doors to reveal a slender young woman garbed in a gold, rippley party dress that cut off right before her dimpled knees. She wore matching golden sandals and had silver banglets adorning her ankles and wrists. A long extension of her bangs was weaved into a braid and pinned to one side of her head with a flamboyant orange hibiscus flower. A hushed murmur of aaah's and ooh's fell over the group of hosts seated around the table. Truly, the Hitachiin's maids had out done themselves this time.

A sweat drop formed on Haruhi's temple. "Uhhm…..guys?" She offered in response to the group of drooling stares she was receiving. Tamaki looked as if he were about to explode into….giggles? Hysteria? She couldn't say entirely which but the man looked as if he were about to burst with something. His face had gone all red and his lower lip was trembling in a curt frown.

_She…..looks so cute!_ The Host Club President inwardly gushed.

"My lady…" Hikaru conceded, pulling out a chair for her.

"Oh, thank you." She said taking the chair as the two twins took up seats on either side of her.

Tamaki watched the whole spectacle from his seat across the table, a watchful look to his eye. "_No matter what, I'm not going to let those nincompoops make a move on her…." _He heard his inner voice lick the inside of his ears.

Knowing his boss was watching, Kaoru projected his voice. "So, what do you think of the roast duck Haruhi?" He inquired, leaning in a little bit too close.

"Hunh? Well I-"

"Oh dear, look at yourself." Hikaru chided in his silky smooth voice. "You've gone and made a mess of your pretty face." A little color tinted Haruhi's cheeks as the eldest Hitachiin brother rubbed the rough, flat digit of his thumb across her cheek towards the corner of her mouth, smearing a bit of the white wine sauce that was there. "Here I'll get it for you."

All Haruhi saw was the crude shape of an object flying towards them from across the table. Then an instant later Hikaru crumbled backwards, a mound of mashed potatoes covering his face. From across the table, Tamaki glared at the Hitachiin twin's with two yellow orbs that gleamed from the shadow under his bangs. All three men silently rose from their seats, and were motionless for a moment, staring at each other over the space of the dining hall. Then all three boys started shouting at once and many of the colorful dishes that were on the table were now sailing to opposite ends of the room.

"Weeeeee! A food fight!" Huni-Senpai squealed and hurled a dish of cranberry sauce at Kaoru's head. The youngest twin had barely just enough time to duck. The dish struck the wall behind him and shattered, eerie red jelly oozing down the walls.

"Hey! Watch it!" Kaoru growled. His slender hand seized the honey glazed drumstick of the duck and yanked it away from the carcass. "Take this! Yoooooooou jeeerk!" He yelled, winding up and then let his pitch go, sailing right towards Huni-Senpai.

Huni blinked. "Ha ha, uh-oh." And ducked.

"Hn? Mitsukuni?" Mori looked down to see where Huni had gone, and by doing so put himself right in the drumsticks path. The piece of meat struck the side of his head with a sickening _wap_ and the entire dining room went silent. Across the table, Kaoru had paled and looked as though he had lost the ability to breathe.

"…..Uhh….oohhh…" Huni repeated from his perch beneath his seat.

Tamaki, who had the same complexion as Kaoru, slapped his hands to his face in horror. "…Jesus, we've done it now!"

Takeshi Morinozuka turned his head in the general direction of Kaoru with the jerky movement akin to a puppet. His neck snapped to a stop and Kaoru froze. He was looking….right at him. A single eye gleamed in the shadow covering his face and Kaoru screamed in terror.

"AAAAAAAAAHIIIEE!"

No one could say what happened after that. Mori climbed on to the table, Kaoru started running, Tamaki continued to hurl chunks of food, Huni joined him, and Kyoya just sat back in his chair, sipping his tea with a bemused grin on his face watching the whole damn thing happen.

"….._That's it."_ Haruhi thought, scooching back out of her chair. "_I can't take this anymore…"_

* * *

And so she figured that's how she found herself here: Sitting in the quiet solitude of the Hitachiin private beach estate. She vaguely wondered if any of the numb skulls had realized she'd left. But then with a second thought, she felt she didn't care.

"Hey." Came a smooth, yet gravelly voice behind her.

"Haa?...Hikaru?" The older Hitachiin twin had his topaz colored eyes fixed on the sea. The dark golden evening sunlight played over his honey brown hair, making it appear as if it were glowing. Parts of his bangs were wet, presumably from scrubbing out bits of mashed potatoes. The gentle sea breeze tousled his short hair over his high cheek bones, but yet even though he looked so beautiful, the expression on his handsome face couldn't be more indifferent.

"What're you doing out here?"

"You've gottah be joking, right?" The heroine asked, a sweat drop forming on the back of her head. "….You saw how it was in there. If I got any food on your mother's dress I'd just end up having to pay you guys back and that's something I really don't need."

"Well, you got that right." The bench moaned and visibly sagged downwards as Hikaru took a seat beside her. Her brown orbs searched his face, but he was still looking straight at the sea. Something wasn't right….he was uncharacteristically…quiet.

"…..Uhm…Hikaru?"

"Hey Haruhi." He asked, seeming to not have heard her. "Do you mind if I ask you something?"

"Hnn? No, sure. Go ahead."

Hikaru held up a piece of paper between his fingers and it took Haruhi a moment to realize that it was one of her coupons she had given him earlier that day. "Don't tell anybody about this…But I want to use my third coupon…" He left his sentence hanging, as if he was drawing out for suspense. This whole time he'd his gaze fixed towards the sea. But now, as he turned to face Haruhi, she knew right away why he wasn't looking at her before. His amber orbs were twitching slightly with anticipation and….was that a hint of fear she detected?

"I want you….to kiss me."

* * *

A light blush adorned Hikaru's high, sculpted cheek bones. His amber colored eyes were searching her face for an answer, any twitch of her mouth or eyebrows that would let him know what she was thinking, let him know what she might answer. But as usual, reading her face was like trying to find a pattern in newly fallen snow: You could dream up whatever image you want, but in reality it was just a blank sheet.

"…..Why would you want me to do that?" she asked flatly, causing Hikaru to fall flat on his face.

"Mnngh! Ugh, jeez, why'd you make me do that?"

"Why'd I do what?" She asked, totally bewildered.

"Rrr, never mind." He huffed, smoothing his golden brown hair back into place. His gaze was a little narrowed as he turned back to look at her, and his flush was slowly spreading up to his rounded ears. "….So..? Will you do it, or won't you?"

Haruhi stared blankly at him as she tried to weigh the reasons out in her dense mind. Why on earth would he want her to kiss him? It seemed pretty odd, considering they didn't have feelings for one another…..right? Then why else…Aha! She quickly put two and two together:_ He must be asking to kiss me because he's caught up in some stupid jest with Tamaki-senpai...They're probably betting to see who can get me to kiss them or something like that, or who can get the closest to kissing me that is… _It made sense when she thought about it; however she couldn't deny that the prospect was a little irritating. Normally she would indifferently watch on the sidelines as her three classmates would entertain themselves with these stupid bets and games, content to not get involved but simply sit and watch them destroy themselves. But this was different. He was talking about a _kiss_. With _her._ And with feelings attached or not, a kiss was still a pretty big deal—at least to her.

She was about to decline when the amusing image of Tamaki's crushed face flashed in her mind.

_Why Haruhi? Why did you kiss that good-for-nothing, low class, vermin? _

While the idea certainly was cruel, she couldn't deny that it would be amusing to ruffle Tamaki's feathers for a change…..It did seem irresponsibly tempting…

"Well fine." Hikaru's harsh tone snapped her back to reality. She didn't know how long she'd been lost in her thoughts. He must have thought she answered no by her silence. "This was such a stupid idea…" He growled under his breath, clearly embarrassed and rose to leave. "I can't believe I-"

"Ah, Hikaru wait." Haruhi called softly, catching a hold of the cuff to his suit before he could trudge off.

He cast his gaze over his shoulder, his topaz eyes wide and attentive, watching her with every fiber of his being now.

"I uh…I mean, sure. I'll do it. If that's what you want."

Hikaru's blush increased tenfold. "R-Really?" He stammered, not even trying to make an attempt to hide the fact that he'd just stammered like a school boy.

"Well sure..I mean, after all I'm the one who made the coupon, right?" She sounded nonchalant, but really she felt as if she shouldn't be doing this. It wasn't necessarily the fact that it was _Hikaru_ that turned her off from the idea. It was more of just the kiss in general. She may not have appeared to be so, but Haruhi took things like that (first kiss, first holding hands) very seriously. Because this would be her first kiss with a boy…

Furthermore, how could that pompous oaf of a president think that he could make a wager out of this? He probably thought that _he_ would win. And _he _would be the one to kiss her. It didn't make her mad, but it wasn't exactly forgivable either. She was not his daughter, and she would make him see that.

Hikaru stood there dumbfounded, opening his mouth twice to say something, but then clamped it shut when words refused to come out. To be honest, he had pretty much expected her to say no, or at least not be so agreeable to it. And after dealing with what he thought was a rejection…he didn't really know what to say. Or do, for that matter, he just sort of stood there awkwardly, staring at her.

Haruhi could start to feel a little bit of tension between them and cleared her throat, bringing them both back to the matter at hand. She rose from her seat, seeing as how Hikaru was rooted to the spot and softly padded over to him in the sand.

"I just have one request." Haruhi said, looking up to meet Hikaru's gaze with unwavering, determined brown orbs.

"…Oh yeah?" Now his voice, which had previously abandoned him, seemed to be working on its own accord. "What's that?"

"Keep your eyes close please. It's weird enough that you keep staring at me…honestly."

"Oh, Sorry." He said and clamped his eyes shut.

Hikaru's heart started to speed up as he felt Haruhi close the last few inches of space between them. He could feel the heat rolling off of her skin on to his and could smell the sweet scent of her coconut scented peasant shampoo. He hated that he couldn't see what was going on. It was driving him nuts! What did she look like? He wanted to see her face so bad….

And then he felt it.

Those warm, soft lips of hers folded over his mouth perfectly and firmly pressed themselves into him. He felt a thrill of excitement go through him, and felt heat bloom in his cheeks and down his neck. His heart started to palpitate. Dear god, could just _one_ kiss do all this? No. It wasn't just a kiss. It was his first kiss and hers. And it was spent with the one woman whom he really wanted to have it with.

Hikaru made a small noise in the back of his throat and felt something inside of him snap.

Haruhi pulled away with a small exhale of breath. "Haa well…now that that's-"

But she didn't get a chance to finish what she was going to say. Hikaru gripped her firmly by her shoulders and brought his lips down upon hers again. Only this time, it was a bit rougher.

Her chocolate brown orbs widened in astonishment and now it was her turn to be rooted to the spot.

Hikaru did things he'd only dreamed of doing to her mouth before: He softly kissed them, nipped them, taking her full lower lip between his and sucking it softly into a sweet smooch. His hand started to travel up her arm and cupped her cheek, and it was that rough callused finger abrassing over her face that snapped her back into reality.

At once she pushed him back and brought her hand around to smack his face. She felt the sting on her fingers only after she heard the resounding slap noise. She hated to admit it, but hearing the noise brought just an inch of self satisfaction to her. Hikaru's eyes had gone wide and his hand was held up to his cheek. If he hadn't been holding that side of his face, Haruhi might not have guessed which side she had slapped, because right now his entire face was red.

She felt so flustered she didn't really know what to say. But what she _did_ know was that was not what they agreed on. Coupon or not it was supposed to be just a quick kiss. Hikaru had over stepped a boundary.

Hikaru, now realizing his mistake, out stretched a hand towards Haruhi. "Haruhi, I-"

"Save it." She said in a clipped voice, and took a step back. She spun on her heel to head back to the summer home, but not before meeting Hikaru's shocked expression with a righteous glare. "….How could you, Hikaru?" Was all she said before she stormed back up the sandy path to the patio.

* * *

**Ooooooooo! What's gonna happen? :O nooo things were going so well! Welp, if you wanna know what happens post a review and I'll put the next chap up. I'm gonna do it on Monday, but if I get three more reviews (making it 5) I'll do it on Saturday, kay?**

**And now an Excerpt From my Crazy Ass Dreams:**

_On 5/23/12 I had a dream that I was an old man who lived in an apartment complex. My apartment was on the outside so when I looked out the window I could see into other people's apartments. Not that I was creeping or anything, but I noticed that there was this bloody gun war happening in my neighbor's apartment. Now, apparently in my younger days I was a first class sniper. So I took out my long sniping rifle and, somehow without being seen, sniped one of the gun men. Then all of the bad guys came over to my apartment like "Who the hell did that? They're dead!" But they didn't see me because I was hiding under two very big yellow and green umbrellas. Then I went to the grocery store to buy mushroom cookies but found out I only had a dollar and fifty five cents and was like fuuuuuuuuu! _

**And then I woke up to an ordinary day.**


	3. The Declaration

**-Terms of Use-**

Chapter Three: The Declaration

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters or themes belonging to the series Ouran High School Host Club nor have ever claimed to. So if you're with SOPA, then get off my ass.

* * *

When Haruhi went back inside the house, the servants were slowly beginning to pick up the aftermath of the food war. One unfortunate soul had the pleasure of scrubbing the jelly stains out of the antique wall paper. But that wasn't half as bad as the sap that had to scrub each and every individual hole on the back of the chairs to get all the mashed potatoes out.

At that point, Haruhi was still fuming. So while at any other time she might have scrapped together some sort of sympathy for them, she just couldn't seem to do it at the moment. The other host members were gathered at a cleaner section of the room, scrubbing the food off of themselves with warm towels offered by yet another ubiquitous house hand. Seriously, those guys were everywhere.

"Haruhi." Tamaki's face lit up as he saw his classmate enter the room. "There you are! I was becoming so worried about you. Not that I'm one to be acquainted with commoners table rituals, but it really is rude to leave without excusing yourself—"

"I have to go to the bathroom." She ground out in an annoyed tone, cutting him off. Normally she could handle Tamaki's rambling just as well as anyone else but she was in a particularly foul mood. She just needed to be alone where she wouldn't be bothered. And she found that bathrooms were the perfect place to not be bothered.

"Certainly, Miss." Another servant said by her elbow, having over heard her statement. "Right this way."

The hosts heard their heroine mutter a terse thank you, and then both she and the servant left the room.

Tamaki blinked his indigo colored orbs, concern making its way on to his handsome face. But Huni voiced Tamaki's question before he even had a chance to.

"Hey guys. Did Haru-Chan seem a little out of it back there?"

"Mmmmm…" Mori concurred.

Just then Hikaru came bursting in through the door that Haruhi had come out of just a moment ago looking flushed and breathless, as if he had been running. "Haruhi?" He shouted, looking around the room. His gaze fell upon the rest of the host club and suddenly he seemed more annoyed than flustered. "What are you all doing just standing there?"

"Excuse me, but we're _trying_ to recover from a food war that _you_ started."

"What!" Hikaru and his twin cried in unison. "We didn't start the food fight, you did!"

"Don't be ridiculous." Tamaki sniffed. "Yes, it was I who made the first strike. But I did not start this war! This all started when you two _bafoons_ were hanging all over my Haruhi!"

"She's not _your _Haruhi." Hikaru retorted with just a bit too much irritation to his voice. This made the rest of the group, including his brother, fall quiet.

Hikaru strangely looked just as surprised that he said that as everyone else was. He blushed, but then averted his gaze with an annoyed 'Tch'. "Come on, Kaoru." He said, grabbing hold of his younger brother's wrist. "We're going to get changed." Kaoru allowed his brother to tow him down the hall without a complaint. He wanted to find out what was bugging his brother so much, so he wanted to be alone just as much as Hikaru did.

"Hnnnnmm….weird. First Haru-Chan, now Hika-Chan. How strange, I wonder what's gotten in to everyone tonight."

"I don't like the looks of this, I tell you." Tamaki said, eyes connecting with each of the hosts. "You saw that look on Haruhi's face, didn't you? Something's definitely happened between them and I won't stand for it if I find out he's hurt my precious Haruhi! Men, we must get to the bottom of this mystery, even if it takes us all night!-"

"Actually," Kyoya interjected. "It's Huni-Senpai's bed time. It's 8:30 exactly."

Just then the Lolita boy in question covered his mouth to yawn and then rubbed the corner of his eye cutely.

"Yeah." Mori added, scooping Mitsukuni up in his arms. The host club knew what Mori meant by his short answer: If Huni was leaving then he was leaving.

"And I have a meeting with my father early tomorrow morning…..And I am _not_ usually an early riser." It was something in the way Kyoya made his voice sound that sent shivers down the host's backs. "So I'd prefer to go to bed early."

So Kyoya was out. Mori was out. Huni was out. So that just left Tamaki to himself.

"You don't want to help me? Well, fine then…..traitors." He added, under his breath. "I'll do it myself. So help me even if I have to stake out all night and spy on them, _nothing_ will transpire between those two tonight that _I_ don't know about."

* * *

Splashing another wave of warm water on to her face, Haruhi raised her head to look into the mirror above the sink. She frowned at her uncharacteristically sour expression. This whole thing was just irritating, really. By unspoken consent (or at least so she thought) they agreed to no more than a chaste peck on the lips. She had a hard enough time agreeing to _that_, to just a small kiss on the lips. And then he had the gall to just….just…If anything else, it was extremely rude what Hikaru did, and for the life of her she couldn't figure out what had come over him back there. Or even _why_ he would want to kiss her like that?

Or better yet…she didn't know what had come over _her _back there. Her lithe hands gripped the porcelain edge of the sink slightly. If she were completely honest with herself….she didn't hate the way the kiss felt. In fact, it felt exceptionally nice. It excited a feeling within her she didn't even know was there. Of course she felt a small spark of excitement when she pecked his lips. But that small spark flared up into a raging inferno when he kissed her like that: His mouth molding over hers, the soft mewling noises coming from his throat, and the way his hand felt so rough against her skin…she couldn't get that image out of her head. With a sigh she ran her fingers through her chocolate colored bangs. This was all happening because she made them those coupons, she reasoned.

This was all so confusing. If she didn't hate it then why was she mad at him? "It's not just that," She reasoned to herself out loud. "It's the _principle _of the matter."

Just then a knock came from the door, pulling her away from her thoughts before they had a chance to blossom into something more complex. "Coming." Out of all people she thought would be standing behind the door, she never would have suspected it to be Kyoya. "Nn? Kyoya-senpai?" He had his hands in his pockets, was smiling, and didn't particularly seem as if he had to use the bathroom.

"Hey Haruhi. I was just leaving and thought I should come back here to check on you…you didn't look very well back there. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." She lied in her usually indifferent tone. "I just don't understand why people do things sometimes."

"Oh?" Kyoya voiced inquisitively. "Did something happen?"

"Not really, just dealing with Tamaki and the twin's antics again."

"I see…..you know Haruhi, you're a smart girl. So I'm sure that you'll figure it all out."

"Oh, uhh…thanks senpai." She said, even though she wasn't entirely sure about what he meant by _'figure it all out'_. What was there to figure out? Was it really that obvious that she was struggling with an internal dilemma?

"Well then, I'll take my leave for the evening. Take care." He called over his shoulder with a wave, and then proceeded to the end of the hall, where Mori waited with a sleeping Huni on his back.

"Hnnnn _How strange."_ She thought to herself. _"It isn't like Kyoya-senpai to just hand out compliments like that…I wonder…did I really look that pitiful?"_ She inwardly thought, a sweat drop forming by the side of her temple.

* * *

Kaoru watched his twin brother undress in their bedroom with a keen interest. The whole time he was completely silent, which was really not like Hikaru. Kaoru hung back with his arms crossed, patiently waiting for his brother to say something to him—to explain what this abnormal behavior was all about.

When he didn't, Kaoru asked in a smooth rational tone: "So are you going to tell me why you're acting like this? Or are you just going to leave me in the dark?"

"Kaoru I-" Hikaru seemed as though he were about to say something particularly snippy, but then upon seeing the face of his brother changed it to something more serious. He sighed. "…I did something I don't think I should have done."

"Does this have anything to do with Haruhi?" Kaoru asked.

Hikaru sat down on the end of their bed and nodded his head slowly, suddenly not having the resolve to talk. It was then he told Kaoru about everything that happened on the beach: from the time on the bench, to when Haurhi stormed off. He took mild amusement in watching his brother's face change from interest, to shock, then to something he couldn't quite place.

"Oooh man." Koaru said sitting down next to his brother. "…And you said she ran away?"

"Yep." Hikaru said with a sigh.

"Aaah jeez…I don't know if _that's_ a good sign."

"Thanks Kaoru; like I really need that right now." The eldest brother sassed, rising from the bed. He began to pace a little bit, scratching the back of his head while his amber eyes searched the floor for an answer.

"Well, I'm not going to lie to you, that's for sure."

"What am I going to do?" Hikaru asked as if he hadn't heard. "What if she hates me now?"

"I highly doubt she hates you." His brother reasoned. "And I think it's obvious what you should do."

"What?"

"Apologize to her."

"Yeah….I guess you're right." The eldest of the Hitachiin's relented. "…Ugh, but that just seems so uncool."

"Do you want her to resent you for the rest of her life? At this point she's probably packing up to leave. So quit complaining and just go do it."

* * *

Tamaki diligently spied on his precious daughter atop the high boughs of a palm tree through his expensive pair of night vision goggles/binoculars. She had changed into a pair of pajamas offered by the house servants—and she looked so freakin' cute!

But he couldn't help but notice the troubled look on her face. She was standing outside on a balcony from her room, overlooking the ocean. Tamaki absently recalled that such things were called a 'widow's walk' by commoners because in the days of old, a sailor's wife would walk anxiously back and forth upon one, watching the horizon diligently for the ship that signaled their husband's return. Often times, that ship never came.

Tamaki was pulled back from his random thoughts by a sweet sigh coming from Haruhi below him.

Said Heroine was currently too preoccupied in her own thoughts to notice the fully grown teenager crouched in the tree above her. Her mind was currently…elsewhere. It was strange. She was never one to dwell on things like this at all. So did that mean that she…_liked_ Hikaru Hitachiin? It wasn't a repelling thought, he was handsome after all. And filthy rich too. That would be reason enough for any other girl to start a relationship with a guy, but Haruhi wasn't like that. She wasn't interested in material things or in appearances. She was more concerned with the person underneath. Besides he wasn't as mature as she would have liked. Honestly he depended on his brother too much and he could act very shallow sometimes…..but…he was still a good guy who at least cared about her. She randomly remembered one time a long time ago how he called her a raccoon-dog and how hard she had to act like it hadn't hurt her feelings.

She heard a knock come from the framed door behind her. "Yes, I'm fine with everything, thank you." She said before her room attendant had the chance to ask her _if she needed anything else_ for the millionth time.

"Actually," A much lower voice responded: The one voice she'd been dreading to hear again. "It's me."

She spun around on her heal to find a sullen Hikaru Hitachiin standing in the doorway. There. See? He was here to apologize. Shouldn't that be proof enough that he cared about her? But all she could bring herself to say was. "Oh. It's you."

"Yeah….Listen, Haruhi I'm sor—"

"Save it, Hikaru." She murmured, turning back to look at the ocean. "I already know what you're going to say…And besides…the truth is…I'm not angry anymore."

She didn't have to turn around to know that Hikaru had a dumbfounded look on his face. His belated response and his slight stammer was more than enough proof that she'd guessed right. "….Y-You're not?"

"No….I don't know what came over you back there. But I figure everybody makes mistakes and I shouldn't hate you forever just because you slipped up once…but really, you can't blame me for being mad at you. I mean, that was crossing the line."

"Yeah I know." Hikaru said, absently scratching the back of his head and staring at his toes. He hoped that the evening gloom was enough to hide the blush staining his cheeks. His heart was palpitating a little bit, and he felt excited for some reason. "_….Say something, idiot."_ He inwardly shouted at himself. He was so shy and self conscious without Kaoru around, though nobody would ever guess it. A tidal wind started to pick up, tousling Haruhi's brown curls around her temples. Gathering his courage, Hikaru clenched his fists and swallowed whatever was left of his pride. "Listen, Haruhi. I only did what I did because….jeeze…I uh…I just…"

"Hnnnnm?" Haruhi blinked her chocolate orbs and tilted her head to the side.

Didn't she know that only made things harder for him? _Whatever Hikaru_, he told himself. There's _no cool way to say this, so just put your ego aside and say what you wanna say, damn it_. "I like you." He said, but the wind carried his voice away.

"Hunh?" Haruhi said.

"I said I really-"

"Honestly, Hikaru. I can't hear what you're saying. Let's just go inside."

But he didn't want to go inside. He wanted to say it here and now. She stepped around him to go back into the room and he grabbed her by the hand. He pulled her up against his chest in a hug and mumbled faintly into her hair. "…I really like you…."

That time the wind wasn't blowing and she had heard him perfectly. She blinked her eyes and tried not to get caught up in his heady scent of musk, sweat and sunshine. "…Uhhh. I like you too, Hikaru."

Hikaru almost fell over backwards. He could tell by the way she said it that it wasn't the same way as he meant. She meant it like she liked him _in general_. But that's not what he meant. He liked her more than a friend. More than a colleague even. He wanted her to be with him and Kaoru and be a trio. He'd never felt that way about anyone before and he was convinced he wouldn't ever feel like that for any one else. Haruhi understood him, and made him happy. Other than Kaoru she was the only other person that had ever done that. He wanted her to be his girlfriend, to be his and nobody else's. He would spell that out to her dense mind even if it made him embarrass himself like a complete idiot. He was about to open his mouth and tell her exactly how it was when all of a sudden they heard a crescendoing cry coming from right above them.

He tilted his head back and was astonished to see Tamaki barreling down towards them with what appeared to be night vision goggles strapped to his head.

"Wwwaaaaaah!" Hikaru shrieked a moment before their lead-headed president came crashing down atop the both of them. "Jesus, Suoh! What're trying to do, kill us?" He yelled, waving his fist. "And what the hell were you doing up in that tree anyway? Didn't you go _home_ with everyone else an hour ago?"

"And leave my precious Haruhi to the wolves? Fat chance!" Tamaki cried, righting himself up and then promptly fisting his fingers into the fabric of the other's shirt. "I saw you make a move on her and that was it. You've sexually harassed my daughter for the last time!"

Hikaru was about to open his mouth to argue, when both males heard a noise they thought they wouldn't hear in a situation like this. Haruhi was…laughing. Both men turned and looked at the heroine as if she were crazy. "Come on, you big goofs." She chided, walking back inside. "Let's all go play monopoly."

The two rich kids blinked in unison. "…Monop..oly?"

Well, Hikaru thought to himself as he headed back inside, it looked as if that declaration was going to have to wait for a little bit. He looked at Haruhi's slightly irritated face as she explained what monopoly was on their trip down the hall and felt a small smile of admiration grace his face "Hnnnmm…"…He figured he had time to wait.

* * *

"Six! Aha, let's see one…two…three…four…" Tamaki counted softly to himself as he traversed his piece over the colorful board tiles. "Five…six…" Suddenly, Tamaki's face paled to an ashen color, and his eyes had gone wide with disbelieve. He had landed on one of the green squares….with a hotel on it…and it didn't belong to him. Tamaki swallowed loudly and waited to hear the verdict of his payment. He couldn't imagine how much it would be. One hundred? Two? Three—

"That'll be one thousand, four hundred dollars, please." The news hit Tamaki like a wooden hammer to the chest. Kaoru smirked, outstretching an open hand. His brother quickly did the same and added:

"Pleasure doin' business with you, boss."

Tamaki stared at his classmates with watery, indigo orbs and sniveled. "Can't you take pity on me?" It was obvious to everybody that Tamaki was doing badly. He'd only purchased five properties, all belonging to a different color. Nobody wanted to barter or trade with him because the only things he owned were from the beginning of the board where rent was a whole two frigging dollars. That is….except for his board walk card.

"Sorry, Boss." Hikaru smirked, fanning out his collection of five hundred dollar bills and counting them as if he hadn't done so three times already.

"But you know the rules." His younger brother finished. "If you land on another player's property you _have_ to pay them the rent."

"Well, _yeah_ but how can you expect me to dish out _one thousand,_ _four hundred dollars _in one go! I don't have that kind of money!" The statement felt so foreign to Tamaki and the twin's ears that their mouths quirked up into half smiles.

"It says here that if a player doesn't have enough money to pay for rent, then that player can pay the owner with a piece of property from his collection." Haruhi interjected, reading from the cardboard piece of the box with the instructions on it.

Tamaki felt anxious as the twin's identical eyes started scanning over his collection of property, quickly glancing over all except for one: His board walk card.

"We'll take that one." They both said pointing to the blue card in his lap. Tamaki quickly snatched it up and held it close to his chest.

"Absolutely not!" He protested.

"Well then, I guess it looks like you're just going to have to be our dog from now on." The twins said, throwing up their hands.

"Come on, Senpai." Haruhi chided. "Just give them the card."

"No way! That's so unfair! _I _wanted to be the king of the board walk…."

_Theater of Tamaki's Mind in 3…2…1…_

_I had it all planned out: Dazzling beaches with sparkling sand, where beautifully sculpted bodies would laugh and sing and play. The clean Caribbean waters lapping against the shore, the refreshing scent of the ocean ruffling ones hair….and most of all. Haruhi in a bikini…._

"_Oh Senpai…" The imagined Haurhi giggled. "Stop staring, you're embarrassing me."_

"_How can I stop staring at you, my precious flower? If I don't constantly watch you, you might be swept back out to sea, my little sea shell." His fictional self sighed, taking Haruhi up into his arms._

_Haruhi blushed, and averted her gaze to the ocean. "…Oh Senpai…" _

"Well, looks like that's never gonna happen." Kaoru's impersonal voice shattered the illusion of Tamaki's board walk and he found himself staring at the identical sneers on the twins faces.

"Yeah, so why don't you just fork over your property and we'll call it even?"

"How can you two even be together like that?" Tamaki protested, holding his property card for dear life. He pointed an accusing finger at the twins. "It _must _be against the rules for you two to team up like that. It's unfair I say!"

"Actually," Haruhi interrupted, inspecting the rules section of the box once again. "It doesn't say anywhere in the rules that you _can't _team up."

"Really?" Tamaki seemed perplexed, then his entire face enlightened and he stretched out his arms, welcomingly leaning towards Haruhi. "Then that means me and you can join as a team, and overcome the odds set before u-"

"Get real." Haruhi cut him off, causing a bolt of lightning to strike Tamaki through his center.

"Wha…what? But….Haruhi…Why?"

Haruhi assumed a 'holier than thou' air and glanced side long at her president with an amused smirk. "What makes you think I would partner myself…with a lowlife commoner like you?"

Tamaki fell to his side, assumed the fetal position, and let a cloud of gloom envelope his entire figure.

"Oooooooh." Hikaru said.

"That felt like a burn."

"Seriously, is that what Haruhi feels like whenever we say something about poor people?"

"uuhmm…Senpai?" Haruhi offered. It was just a joke. She didn't mean to send him spiraling downward into a morbid depression.

"Well you know, Sir." One of the twins leered, leaning in closer.

"You could always pay us with your body instead, and be our little toy." Kaoru finished.

Tamaki shoved his property card abruptly into the twins faces and ground out through his teeth: "..Just take my damn board walk card already."

* * *

**Mmmnn I'm down stairs in my basement like a troll while everyone else is outside enjoying the family barbeque. But I made a promise and so I shall post. **

**Okay, so here's the thing: I originally planned for this to be like the end of the short story. But I didn't expect to fall so much in love with it and I also didn't expect for people to like it so much.**

**So, I have more planned that I haven't written yet. Let me know if you guys want the story to continue because remember….he still has one coupon left ;) Review and let me know if you want me to keep going.**

**Peace**

**And now an Excerpt from my crazy ass dreams:**

_On 5/23/12 I had a dream that my mom and me were going on a week's vacation to Disney world and I was like bitchin but at the same time I was like WE'RE GONNA HAVE TO FLY ON A BIG SCARY PLAAAAAAAAAANE WWWWAH! But then I was like get over it woman, it's Disney land! So I ran home to get my new '50 shades of grey' book and ran to the air port. Then security was like "Ma'am, I'm gonna have to ask you to take off your shoes." And I was like "no fucking way I'm taking off my shoes! You can bite me!" Then he talked into his little walkie-talkie thing and was like "I'm gonna need back up." Soon a whole bunch of cop guys were chasing me through the damn air port trying to take off my shoes. So I turned into a Houndoom and used flamethrower on those bastards. But they still wouldn't give up so I hid myself using stealth rock (even though that's not what that move is used for). Then somehow I managed to sneak on the plane and watched the SpongeBob movie with my mom the whole way because I was scared inside the plane._

**And then I woke up to an ordinary day.**


	4. Abduction

** -Terms of Use-**

Chapter Four: Abduction

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters or themes belonging to the series Ouran High School Host Club nor have I ever claimed to. So if you're with SOPA, then get off my ass.

* * *

"Haaahh, there." Haruhi sighed contentedly, sitting back and admiring a folded pile of laundry. "All neat and ready to be put away. Now let's see…next I have to-" Her sentence was cut off short by her apartment's door bell. "…Strange. Who could that be? I'm not expecting any body…" As always the heroine stood on her tip toes to peer through the looking glass of her door. "…Hunh?" Her brow furrowed together in confusion at what (or that is, who) she saw. On the other side of her door stood two UPS men garbed in their usual brown uniform. They wore caps, which was uncommon, and their faces were down cast and were covered by the brim of their hats. _"Weird. Did Dad order another costume?"_ It wasn't uncommon for her father to order outrageous dresses every now and then. '_I just get sick of the same old thing, you know?_' He'd insist. However, none of his packages usually required _two_ carriers, so she was suspicious.

She unlocked the door and swung it open. She instantly noticed a large cardboard box at the feet of the two men on the other side of the door. She hadn't noticed before because she couldn't see that low through the looking glass. Were those…._air holes_ on the side of the box?

"Good day miss!" One of the mail men said in an obviously fake voice. It sounded extremely familiar… Something else she noticed was that they never lifted their heads enough for her to get a glimpse of their faces under the visors of their hats. Something was definitely up.

"We have come to deliver a package for a miss…Haruhi Fujioka. Is she home?" Said the other mail carrier.

Oh. _Now_ she got it. Honestly, how stupid did these guys think she was? Her eye brow twitched in annoyance and she could feel a vein throbbing on her temple. _"Fine."_ She thought. _"I'll play along. _Sorry. You've got the wrong apartment." She said, not even trying to hide the note of irritation in her voice.

"Oh?" Said the first mail carrier. He removed a white piece of paper from his pocket and seemed to examine it. "But it says right here this is the apartment-"

That was it, she'd had enough. "Would you two just cut it out already, Kaoru and Hikaru? I know it's you guys." She barked, causing the two mail men to go completely rigid.

"…I'm not sure I know what you mean, miss-"

"Oh for Christ's sake, come off it, Kaoru!" Hikaru hissed, ripping off his hat. Haruhi almost sputtered out laughing when she saw a brown, fluffy fake mustache glued to his upper lip. "She already knows."

"Hika_ru_!" His younger brother whined. He removed his hat as well and had a horribly thin brown goatee penciled on his face with magic marker. "We were _not _supposed to break character, no matter what. You heard what the boss said!"

"Forget what the boss said. Go with plan B."

"Right: Plan B."

"What's plan B?" Haruhi asked, having a bad feeling about all this. Seriously, what did these guys want so badly that they had to disguise themselves as middle aged mail men?

"There's no time to explain." Hikaru said, his brows furrowing into a very serious expression. He bent over and held open the flaps to the big box which was conspicuously empty. "Get in the box."

"What!" Haruhi shrieked. "You've gottah be joking—I'm not getting in there!"

"Do it!"

"No!"

"Then you leave us no choice. We must use _force."_

"What? Hey! Get off me! Let me go!" The two Hitachiin twins grabbed Haruhi by both of her arms and, by the pure power of team work, wrestled her into the box and duct taped it shut. "_Hey!_" She growled angrily, her voice bouncing off of the cardboard walls. Honestly, where were her frigging neighbors when you needed them? "_I'm gonna kill you two for this!_"

"Whew." Kaoru wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead.

Hikaru winked and held up his thumb as he flashed a dazzling smile at his brother. "Target captured."

* * *

Haruhi heard car doors open, then close and she could tell by the way her box lurched forward slightly that she had been placed inside a moving car. What the hell was she: some wild animal? She heard the twins talking with someone on their cell phone; presumably their boneheaded president. They ended their conversation with a beep and a click. Honestly, of all the tricks the twins had resorted to in the past to get her to go out somewhere, this was by _far_ the most elaborate and outrageous scheme they'd pulled off.

"Guys, let me out of this stupid box _right now_." Haruhi growled, feeling a vein throb near her temple. Judging by the nature of her abduction, Haruhi guessed that where ever they were going she would not like. The club only issued the twins to collect her like this when they knew persuading her would never work. But she supposed it was a good sign that they hadn't tried to get her into a swim suit, or rock climbing gear just yet.

"So you can come out and punch our heads?" Kaoru asked.

"Fat chance." His brother finished.

Haruhi grit her teeth and clenched her fists in frustration. "Rrgh…alright fine. I promise if you two let me out of this box then I won't hit you."

There was a brief pause before the twins both asked. "…Promise?"

"Yes! I promise already. Jeez!"

"Well okay. What could be the harm in that?" They asked, turning to each other and shrugging. The Hitachiin brother's sang a soft little tune as they both started on one end of the tape and worked together to pull the strip off. "Ah! There we go."

All of a sudden Haruhi burst out of the box and took the Hitachiin brother's noses between her fingers in a horrifying death grip.

"O wow o wow!" Kaoru squirmed.

"Haruhi let go! You said you wouldn't hit us!" Hikaru whined in a nasally tone. It wasn't as if Hikaru ever paid attention to what kind of articles were in his nose, but now he was aware that there were hard, jagged pieces of dried…well, you know…in there and they painfully dug into the soft flesh inside his little nosie. "Aaah! I think my nose is bleeding!"

"Why'd you two stuff me in a box?" Haruhi demanded, squeezing their noses a bit harder and twisting them. It was a good idea to get as much information out of them while she still had power. "Did anyone even close the door to my apartment? What if a mouse gets in there and eats my food, hunh? Where are we even going, tell me that much."

"We don't know where we're going—we swear!" Kaoru answered as if he hadn't heard the part about the mouse. Tears were streaming down his face as well as his brother's.

"Yeah, Tamaki just gave us the address and told us to be there!"

With a reluctant growl Haruhi let their noses go and stared at them with her hands on her hips. "…You two better not be lying."

"Why would we lie?" Kaoru asked, rubbing his sore nose.

"Yeah. You already had us in a death grip anyway."

Still fuming, Haruhi turned her gaze out the tinted limo windows to try and guess where they would be going. But looking at the passing scenery didn't even give her a shadow of a clue. She reluctantly took a seat between the two twins and crossed her arms over her chest. "I just know I'm not gonna like where we're going."

"Don't worry, kid." Hikaru said, tossing an arm over her shoulder. Despite the vein of irritation that throbbed on her forehead his brother quickly did the same.

"We know you'll like this place."

* * *

"Oh great." Haruhi droned in her usual flat tone. "I knew I wasn't gonna like this place."

Haruhi was currently being carried under her arms by the twins to the gate of a bustling, flashing, and musical carnival. Groups of people all shapes, sizes, and age were walking in and out of the gates. Rides and games flashed in beautiful florescent lights in the distance, and excited screams from rides and game host's voices could be heard among the clamor. Moving rides could be seen swinging, turning, and thrusting up into the sunsetting sky. There was the scent of freshly upturned earth in the air, along with fried dough, cotton candy and a bunch of other things Haruhi didn't like.

In short it was loud, crowded, and fast paced. And Haruhi was already having a horrible time. "Uuugh."

But what was probably the worst sight of all was the group of men all belonging to the host club waiting at the carnival's entrance for them.

Tamaki saw Haruhi approaching with the twins and his entire face lit up. "Haruhi."

"Aha ha yaaaaaay! Ha-ru-chaaaan!" Honey-senpai laughed.

Haruhi's eyes went white with rage and she hissed at the awaiting group of hosts, her hair seeming to turn into snakes.

"Woooo!" Tamaki cringed, his mouth turning into a diamond shape. "H-Haruhi what's the matter, my dear?" He asked regaining his composure. However he couldn't hide the few drops of sweat forming around his brow.

"Uh yeah…."

"About that, Boss…" The Hitachiin brother's ushered their king over to the side of the group, hands to their mouth so Haruhi wouldn't hear. "We…kinda had to go with plan B."

"WHAT!" Tamaki boomed. "I told you I didn't approve of that method! Now look what at you've done." Tamaki said, turning their attention over to a fuming Haruhi. "Now she hates us!"

In truth Haruhi didn't hate them at the moment. She was more annoyed at being dragged all the way out to a _carnival_ after an hour and a half car ride when she was trying to get chores done. An angry buzzing noise seemed to envelope her while the words _irritable_ and _annoyed_ swarmed around her, contributing to the wasp-like noises.

Hesitantly, Tamaki outstretched a shaking hand towards his daughter. "But…Haruhi…You don't hate me, do you? Daddy didn't do this to yo—" Haruhi shot her president a glare over her shoulder that could freeze water and he screamed. "Aaahiiie!"

"You had every bit to do with this as they did, Senpai." She growled, pointing to Koaru and Hikaru who were currently sticking their tongues out at their president and pulling down their bottom eye lids.

Tamaki's face was downcast and depressed, the shade from his bangs hiding his handsome eyes. "I see…Once again….I take the blame for the short comings of those two doppelgangers!" He said, his voice crescendoing from a mere whisper to a screech. An argument between the president and the twins started to ensue but as usual, Haruhi just tuned them out.

"Heeeeey." A cute boyish voice whined down by their wastes. Haruhi looked down into the warm depths of Honey-senpai's chocolate orbs as the Lolita boy squeezed her hand softly. "Don't be mad at Hika and Kao-chan. They just want you to have fun. Come on, whattaya say, Haru-chan? Wanna go have some cotton candy with me?" He asked, flashing his famous cute smile, hoping to win her over with his cuteness.

"No, not really." She dead panned. "Honestly I just wanna go home. I don't want to be here."

Both of the twins sighed and threw their hands up in defeat. "Honestly." Hikaru said. "What're we going to do with her?"

"I mean gosh, she's just such a wet blanket."

Haruhi flushed. "I am not."

"Are to." They argued, crossing their arms over their chest. "…party pooper."

"I'm _not_ a party pooper."

"Oh yeah?" They jested, a mischievous gleam coming to their eyes. "Then prove us wrong: Go on a ride with us." Kaoru and Hikaru took up places on either side of Haruhi and fanned out an expansive map. "Which should we go on first?"

"There's the bumper cars. That seems like fun."

"Naah, Haruhi wouldn't like that. How about a nice _safe_ ride: like the twirling tea cups?" Kaoru offered.

Haruhi knew they were trying to trick her into getting on a ride with them, but it wouldn't work. "Forget it. I'm not going on any rides."

"Aaaw but why not?" The twins whined. Haruhi was in a cranky mood and was not willing to participate in anything this evening.

For the first time since they'd arrived, Kyoya spoke up. "Now I may be wrong," Which everybody knew he never was. "But I think I heard about a game in this carnival whose grand prize was 50,000 yen*. Now that may not seem all that significant compared to your current debt. But you can't deny that 50,000 yen wouldn't be useful to you, Haruhi."(*roughly 500 US dollars.)

Haruhi seemed to be pondering what Kyoya just said. "Hnnnn…" She was nibbling on her bottom lip in thought. All of the host members leaned forward with anticipation, anxious to hear their heroine's answer.

"…Fine." She reluctantly said.

"Yaaaay!" The twins, Tamaki, and Honey all exclaimed with glee.

"_I hope I didn't make a mistake giving in like this."_

* * *

The noise was even greater when they were inside the carnival's gates. Rows of little kids were pressed up against the sides of the game stands like little piglets to the belly of their mother; all scrambling over each other and pushing, trying to partake in the merriment.

"How are we even supposed to get a chance to play?" Haruhi asked, slouched over and unenthusiastic.

"You will." Kyoya said. "You just have to be patient, Haruhi."

She groaned.

For a moment the clamor of the carnival fell silent and the host club heard a familiar, high pitched, nasally voice announcing the attractions of a certain game. "_Come on down and play the water gun game! Pick a prize—any size! If you win, that is!"_

Haruhi as well as the other's blinked. "…Is that…Who I think it is?"

Sure enough, the host members made their way over to the most ornate looking carnival game—with flashing lights, humungous prizes and the whole shibang— to find their lady manager atop the stand's small platform. "Aha ahah ha ha ha!" She shrieked in her usual laugh. It was made all the more piercing by the mike she had attached to her face.

"Renge?" Tamaki asked, confused.

Renge, seeming to only notice them just now, thrust her finger through the air and pointed at the host club. She was wearing a bathing suit cosplay to coincide with the water gun game. It was early fall and a bit chilly outside. _She must be freezing_, Haruhi thought. "Aaah, boys. How nice to see you." Haruhi was only wearing her chore clothes which consisted of jeans and a white t-shirt. So Renge she didn't look that different to Renge. "Why don't you play a refreshing game of water guns on this cool August evening to christen the arrival of fall and bid farewell to Summer? Play now for only five hundred yen!"

"Only Renge could make playing a water gun game sound poetic." Kaoru commented.

"If you play right now you'll be entered to win our mysterious grand prize!"

At that, Haruhi's ear twitched. "Ahh…mystery prize? What is it, Renge?"

"Ah-ah-ah!" Their manager said, wagging a finger in Haruhi's face. "If I told you it wouldn't be a mystery! You'll just have to play and find out."

Given that it was Renge hosting the game, and the fact that she was incredibly rich, Haruhi considered it a likely possibility that this mysterious grand prize could be a large sum of money. "_Maybe this is the game Kyoya-senpai was talking about earlier?_"

"Sounds interesting." Kaoru said taking a seat at one of the bright red stools before the counter. His brother quickly did the same.

"Yeah, I'm in."

"Yaaay! I'm wanna play too!"

"…Be careful, Mitsukuni."

"Hurry up, Senpai." Haruhi called back to Tamaki, taking a seat between the twins and Honey. "The game is about to start."

"Oh! Right."

The water guns were attached to the counter via a metal, flexible hose in front of their respective stool for the player. Directly across from every gun was the head of a laughing clown with its mouth stretched open wide in a laugh or a frown; this is where the players were supposed to shoot. Above the clown's heads were empty tubes stretching all the way up to the prizes hanging above. The object of the game was to fill the tube all the way up with water. Whoever could achieve this first would be deemed the winner.

"Alright." Renge said once every one had taken their seats. "Ready…get set…_banana!_ Oh—I didn't say go, Tamaki. I'm afraid you'll have to be given a two second deduction for that."

"What! But that's not _fair!_ I thought you were going to say _go_." Tamaki whined. Over to his left the twins were giggling. Everybody knew Tamaki wasn't Renge's favorite.

"I'm sorry, but it looks like you're going to have to pay better attention than that. Alright, let's start again, shall we? On your marks…get set…_go!"_

Immediately water erupted from all of the host member's guns with a spray of water. Honey was off by a few seconds, while the twins had trouble adjusting their aim. But Haruhi, having had practice at this during her younger years, was spot on. _"I have to be careful."_ She thought. _"If even one of the twins win then that means a victory for both of them…focus Haruhi...imagine the clown as someone extremely irritating…"_ When she opened her eyes again she didn't see the face of a clown laughing at her. But instead she saw…The spitting image of Kaoru Hitachiin.

"_Let's go with plan B, brother heh heh heh, plan Beeee…"_ It mocked. Haruhi ground her teeth together and squeezed the trigger hard, enjoying the mental gurgling sounds it brought about from drowning the 'clown'.

Next she saw his brother: Hikaru. "_Get in the box, Haruhi heh heh heh…the boooox."_ A vein throbbed near her temple and with a growl she squeezed the trigger as hard as she could. Oh how she _wished_ she could spray the water all over the clown's stupid face. But she didn't dare, because if she strayed from the thing's mouth for even a second it would give her classmates the advantage.

"Holy crap." Kaoru said in awe watching Haruhi's tube fill up faster than any body's.

"Look at her go!" Honey added.

A moment later Haruhi's tube was completely filled up. A bell rang to signal the end of the match and lights flashed above Haruhi's seat to signify that she was the winner.

"Congratulations, Haruhi. You are the unanimous winner of the water gu….Uhm….Haruhi."

Haruhi was still currently stooped over the bar, frowning fiercely at the clown head across from her and mumbling profusely under her breath. Her attention was so focused on it she hadn't even realized the match was over. The clown head was getting so much water the liquid started to gush out of its eyes, giving it the illusion that it was weeping.

"Uhhm, Haruhi. I think you should stop that." Tamaki said hesitantly.

But still, Haruhi couldn't hear them. She was determined not to lose this game that she'd already won. The clown head was getting too full of water and was rapidly inflating. It looked as if it was going to burst at any moment.

"Look out!" Koaru shouted and pulled his brother down behind the counter along with himself. A moment after the clown head burst and sent water spraying everywhere. Haruhi's brown eyes went wide with shock and she released her gun as if it had burned her. "…Oh…Was the game over?"

"You're serious? You're just noticing that now?" All of the hosts asked at once.

"Aaah… Kaoru, are you hurt?" Hikaru stooped down next to his brother who was still currently crouching and took his face into his hands. Concern was evident on the eldest brother's face as his amber orbs flickered over Kaoru's person, checking to see if he really was okay.

Kaoru smiled and placed his hand over Hikaru's, giving it a comforting squeeze. Droplets of water shimmered in their auburn colored hair. "I'm fine. Don't worry about me, Hikaru."

"Aaah…Kaoru..." His brother whined and pressed his lips against his forehead. "Don't be so reckless like that." He murmured, his lips brushing against his skin. "You could have gotten hurt. Don't scare me like that."

Haruhi heard a group of girls behind her squeal at the sight of such a spectacle. She turned around and was surprised to see some of the girls from the host club clustered together in front of a candy stand, admiring the Hitachiin brother's with hearts in their eyes. _"Oh. So that's what that whole brotherly love show was all about_." Haruhi thought, but instead chose to say: "I didn't expect to see the girls here."

"Well of course." Kyoya said while pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "This carnival is fairly popular around this time of year; even to people of higher standing such as us. And since we were all coming along I took the liberty of informing a few of our guests that we'd be going. It was only the polite thing to do."

"_Yeah right," _Haruhi thought_. "Polite my foot. You only informed them because it might give you a chance to make money."_

"Ehem, as I was saying before." Renge interjected. "Congratulations Haruhi! You've won the grand prize of…" She paused for effect. "This heaping bowl of golden jasmine rice!"

Haruhi nearly fell over backwards. "_A bowl of rice is her grand prize? That's so stupid._ Oh gee…Thanks Renge." She muttered with a detached voice.

"Not only has this bowl of rice been salted and peppered to taste, but this line of golden rice has been enriched with the supplement vitamin A to help prevent blindness in developing babies in the Chinese mountains! To be honest, I almost didn't want to give it up. Not after watching the Hitachiin brother's dazzling performance!"

"Thanks, Lady manager!" The twins said flashing Renge the thumbs up.

Haruhi leaned her head against the stands support pole and sighed_. "…I'm surrounded by complete morons…"_

* * *

"So, remind me: _Why_ are we going on the Ferris wheel again?" Haruhi asked Kyoya, who was currently behind her in line. Honestly, she didn't even remember how she'd gotten in this stupid line but she knew she'd been standing there for at least fifteen minutes.

"Because the ladies insisted they wanted to have a ride with the host members." Kyoya answered matter-of-factly. "And who am I to deny their request?"

_Oh yeah, right._ Haruhi slouched forward, remembering how the whole thing transpired

"_Uhm…Tamaki-senpai?" The girl with the carp lips asked. "Is it okay if…I mean…Well, I would really like to go on the Ferris wheel with you…" Blushing she looked away and tried to conceal her anxious smile. "That is…If you want to…"_

"_If I want to?" he responded. "Why, Of _course_ I'll go on the Ferris wheel with you, my dear." He drew her up against his chest, as he always did, and tipped her chin upwards to stare into his sparkling indigo colored pools. "I can't think of anything more romantic, more intimate than huddling close together in a Ferris wheel car, watching the sunset as we rise into the starry sky." _

_The girl with the carp lips had hearts floating around her head and looked as if she were going to pass out at any minute. "…Oh, Tamaki…"_

_The remaining group of girls behind them squealed with glee and exclaimed things such as "I want to ride with Haruhi!" Or "I want to ride with the twins! Please!"_

"And so, I made an arrangement with the Ferris wheel operators to satisfy our guests." Kyoya finished with a smile, jotting some figures down in his ubiquitous note book.

"Hey Haruhi." Hikaru called in front of her.

"It's almost our turn." Kaoru added. Indeed, there were only two more people in front of them. Both of the twins sidled up to her and asked. "Wanna go in a car with us..._aloooone_?"

"Get real." Haruhi said flatly. "Besides, there's only two to a car anyways."

"Watch your step." The female attendant said to the couple before the twins and Haruhi.

Something shiny flashed on the ground in front of Kaoru and stooped over to see what it was. "Hey, what's this thing?"

"Kaoru, hurry up." His brother nagged. "You're gonna miss the ride."

Haruhi was currently chatting with her repeat customers and wasn't paying attention to the mischievous female ride attendant who was gleaming at her and Hikaru. Before either of them could do anything, the attendant grabbed both of them by their arms and forcefully pushed them into the last car. "Only room for two more!" She sing-songed a moment before she slammed the door on the two bewildered teenagers.

"H-Hey!" They both cried out and rushed to the door. But it had been locked shut.

"Damn it." Hikaru growled and pressed his hand against the glass, peering out at his brother with helpless eyes. "Kaoru!" Hikaru watched his brother mouth his name, and then he and Haruhi lurched forward slowly ascending higher and higher into the sky.

"God damn it." Hikaru swore. "When I get down there I'm going to give that ride attendant a piece of my mind!"

Haruhi blinked in confusion at Hikaru's behavior. He was trembling slightly and he seemed way more irritable than this situation called for. Could he be…afraid? "Uhm…Hikaru? Are you okay?"

"Oh yeah, just _peachy_, Haruhi." He snapped, and instantly felt sorry about it. But when he looked over his shoulder to look at Haruhi her expression was far from hurt.

He was surprised when she placed her hand on his arm and gave a comforting squeeze. "Come on. Why don't we go sit down?" She offered in what must have been the gentlest voice Hikaru had ever heard her use.

He felt the scary part of his nerves start to calm down while another area of his nerves stared to kick up, rustling butterflies in his stomach and making his cheeks blush. "…Yeah, okay." He softly replied as Haruhi lead them over to one of the benches.

Haruhi was correct when she said the carts were only meant for two people. But it was possible to sit two people together on one bench, albeit with very little personal space. As Hikaru took his seat next to Haruhi he felt their thighs press together, and the side of her small frame was pressed against his. Being so close to her made his cheeks stain a light pink, and he looked steadily down at the floor; torn between not looking at her or out the window because he was slightly afraid of both.

Haruhi noticed that Hikaru was not acting like himself. Instead of striking up scandalous conversation he was quiet, and had his gazed fixed on the floor. His hands were in his lap, clenched into fists and he felt stiff as a board beside her. A thick layer of silence had fallen over them. "Uhm…Hikaru? Are you by chance afraid of heights?"

His silence was all the answer she needed. She truly sympathized with Hikaru; she knew what it was like to be subject to your greatest fear and have to face it alone. It sucked. You felt so isolated and alone. You just wanted someone to be near you, and let you know things would be okay.

Hikaru took in a small breath of surprise when he felt Haruhi wrap her arm around his waist and rub his side soothingly. She rested her head against his shoulder and said: "It's okay, Hikaru. You don't have to be afraid. I'm here."

Hikaru felt the last bit of his fear melt away, and he allowed himself to close his eyes and be soothed by Haruhi. But even though he was no longer afraid of how high they were, he felt began to feel a little nervous at how close they were.

"…How could you tell I was scared of heights?" Hikaru asked softly.

"It wasn't that hard." She replied in her usual indifferent tone. "As soon as you got separated from Koaru you started acting weird and irritable. At first I thought you were just acting that way because Kaoru got left behind, but you've been without him before and haven't been this flustered. That, and the fact that you won't look out the sides of the car kind of told me that you were afraid."

Hikaru realized his mouth was hanging open slightly in amazement. He closed it and the corners turned up into an amused smile. "…Heh..You really don't make sense, you know that?"

"Hunh?" Haruhi asked, least expecting to hear that out of Hikaru after she just comforted him.

Hikaru ran his fingers through his hair. "How is it that you can be so intuitive…and so dense at the same time?"

"Is that supposed to be some sort of compliment?" She asked, feeling a drop of sweat form near her brow.

"You really have no idea what kind of impact you have on me and Kaoru, do you?"

"Hunh? Impact? What're you talking about?" Seriously, where was this all coming from? She just went with a hunch that she'd had about him being afraid.

Hikaru was silent for a moment before he answered. He surprisingly had gathered his courage up to look out the car's window and look at the glittering expanse of the carnival at night below them. It looked like a little toy carnival that you would see on display in a toy store, with moving parts and people. "Until you came along, not a single person could tell us apart. Not _one_. Well, I guess besides Mom; she's always known. But that's different, you know? Literally no one had ever been able to tell us apart: not our teachers, nannies, classmates, relatives, our maid…No one…We felt so lonely. But then, all of a sudden you came along and were able to tell us apart. You were able to distinguish us so _easily_. We didn't know what to do with ourselves…" He sat back in his chair and rested his arm atop the seats, draping his arm over Haruhi's shoulders.

Haruhi hadn't noticed and decided to voice a question she'd thought of since the beginning of all this. "So…If you guys were so lonely and wanted people to recognize you as individuals why did you try so hard to seem exactly alike? Doesn't make sense to me."

Hikaru was never usually one to explain himself. He never felt that he had to. But this was different: this was Haruhi. "Well you see, we wanted people to distinguish our differences not so much when it came to our appearances. I mean obviously, we're identical twins. So we wanted to put more of the focus on our personalities; make people memorize our habits and tendencies so they could _really_ tell us apart…But, I can see what you mean. We weren't exactly the friendliest people back then, so no one ever got close enough to tell the difference. We were just so sick of being disappointed, I guess."

"Hunh…I guess I get it." Though she really didn't.

A comfortable silence enveloped them and for a moment the two just relished the sight of colorful flashing lights way down below them.

"…Haruhi." Hikaru said softly. Said heroine turned her chocolate colored orbs to look up at Hikaru and found him warmly smiling down at her. "Thanks…For everything."

Haruhi didn't entirely know what he meant by everything, but she decided it wasn't important. A small part of her allowed her to lean her head against his shoulder and she smiled. "You're welcome."

* * *

"Haruhi!" Tamaki exclaimed. "There you are, I was so worried. And just who do you think _you _are, Hikaru? Kidnapping my daughter into a Ferris wheel ride against her will and without my consent! You should be ashamed of yourself!"

"What? Don't look at me…" Her friends carried on with their usual bantering while Haruhi just tuned them out and went to go apologize to her customers for her abrupt disappearance.

Kaoru, who'd meandered back over to his brother's side, half expected Hikaru to be a hot mess when he came out of the Ferris wheel car. After all, he was very afraid of heights and nobody knew about it but him. But surprisingly he walked out of the car with his hands in his pockets, nonchalant, and didn't even stop to give the female ride attendant who had rudely shove him the time of day. Kaoru was perplexed. If _he_ wasn't with him then how could Hikaru be this relaxed? And then it hit him: Haruhi— intuitive, dense Haruhi— must have figured it out.

As always Kaoru felt pleased and a little disheartened at the same time. Little by little, Haruhi was making her way through the cold had wall that his brother kept around his heart. This made him happy but at the same time really sad, because this meant that he was expanding his horizons and wasn't depending on him so much anymore. While he knew deep down that this was a good thing…he also knew that ultimately it would leave him alone…But no, he thought as he looked at the sight of her and his brother laughing together. Even if Hikaru became less dependent on him, and expanded his horizons to more people, there was no way that he would ever be left alone.

"Where should we go next?" Honey, who for some reason had cake all over his face, asked atop the heights of Mori's shoulders.

"Well we won't go on any rides." Tamaki forbid. "Haruhi already said that she doesn't want to go on any rides and we _will_ not pressure he-"

"Well, actually…" Haruhi interjected, causing all of the hosts to look her way with anticipation. "Going on a couple rides wouldn't be so bad." She realized all of the hosts were looking at her with sparkling anxious eyes. "Just no rollercoaster's, okay?" She added belatedly.

Suddenly all of the host members (except for Mori and Kyoya, of course) crowded around Haruhi and snuggled her into a group hug.

"Thank you. Thank you . Thank you, Haru-chan!" They all sang at once.

A moment later they were all standing in a not-so-long line to the twirling tea cups ride. Haruhi, Tamaki and Honey took one cup while the twins and Mori took another. As always, Kyoya chose to stay on the sidelines and tried to recruit more club guests among doting spectators.

Haruhi laughed as Tamaki spun the wheel in the middle of their cup particularly hard and they spun around really fast.

"Aha ha ha! Hah ah ha! Weeeeeeeeeee~" Honey screamed with joy, all signs of queasiness gone.

The ride was beginning to wind down when Haruhi felt her phone buzz in her pocket. I was probably her father asking where the hell she was this late at night without telling him. But as she pulled out her phone she was surprised to see Hikaru's name blinking above the new text message.

_Hey Haruhi. If it's alright with you, could we start texting more often?_

Haruhi couldn't fathom how he had managed to type that with no typos while he was on the twirling tea cups ride. But still she smiled and hastily replied. _Sure. I'd like that :)_

-Extra: Honey's Cake Challenge-

Mitsukuni Honinozuka was currently wandering around the carnival while gripping on to the hand of his best friend and care giver, Takeshi. The two had decided to go off and do their own thing whilst the other club members entertained their guests at the Ferris wheel. Honey didn't really like the idea of being up that high with no seat belts, so he begged Takeshi with watery brown eyes for them to go do something else. The girls were understanding, like always.

"Where do you wanna go, Takeshi?" Honey asked, scrambling up on to his shoulders.

"Doesn't matter to me. We'll go where ever you want."

Honey giggled at this, pleased. However, Honey didn't even have a moment to begin pondering where they should go before a robust voice cut through the clamor.

"Step right up!" it shouted. Both of the club member's heads turned toward the direction where it was coming from and they saw a stout little man dressed in a carnival callers get-up announcing: "We've got one more seat! Try your luck at our annual cake eating competition! We're offering a grand prize of 50,000 yen to the winner!"

Honey's eyes had gone wide and his grip on Usa-chan became deathlike. "Cake eating…Oh Takeshi, can I?"

"No way." His solemn friend dead panned. "Too much sugar before bed time."

"But…but…" He whimpered, his eyes quickly filling with tears. "You said we could do whatever I wanted. Were you lying when you said that, Takeshi?"

His tall friend was silent, as usual, pondering his response. He _did_ say that to him . And even though he knew Mitsukuni's tears and whimpering was just an act it still plucked at his obtuse heart strings. "…If you do it, you better win." Mori relented and was rewarded with a cry of glee and a crushing bear hug to his leg from Honey.

"Aha! Thank you, Takeshi!" He was about to dart off when Mori caught him by the sleeve.

"Usa-chan stays here."

Honey snuggled his rabbit close to him and whined. "Eeeh? But why?" Then he remembered, the announcer specifically said that there was only _one_ chair left, meaning Usa-chan wouldn't be able to participate. "Oh…okay. Sorry Usa-chan, but you can come next time, kay?"

"Step right up! There's one last seat before the games begin! Will _you_ be this year's—"

"Excuse me, sir." Came a boyish voice down near his feet. The man looked down to find the open, innocent face of a blonde child staring at him. His wide, chocolate orbs were steady and determined.

"Yes, what is it lad?"

"I would like to participate in the cake eating competition!"

The man threw back his head and let out a sharp bark of laughter. "Ha ha! I'm sorry lad, but this is a serious competition for _grownups._ Come back in a couple years and maybe…" The small boy at his feet began to sniffle and whimper with disappointment. But what had caught the man's attention was the towering, sleek young man rising up behind the small boy glaring straight at him. "Uhhm…and who are you?" He asked hesitantly.

Instead of offering a reply, Mori extended his hand showing the man Mitsukuni's ID, proving to him that he was eighteen years old.

"What!" The man exclaimed. "That's impossible, there's no _way_ this little boy can be eighteen years old! You're pulling my leg!"

It took a little more persuasion from Honey, and more than a few knuckle cracks and glaring on Mori's part, to convince the game show host that Honey was indeed as old as his ID claimed. After that was all cleared up Honey bounded up the stairs and quickly took his seat at the end of a long table. There were only nine other contestants, all of whom varied in mass and size.

Honey danced in his seat with excitement. _"Those guys look like complete wimps!"_ He thought to himself. _"This'll be a piece of cake! Haha literally!"_ Honey burst out laughing at his internal joke, so hard in fact that he hugged his sides and doubled over. _"I'll have to tell that one to Takeshi."_

"Thank you all for joining us this evening!" The game announcer called out to the crowd that was gathering around the platform. "It is my pleasure to announce the beginning of our 6th annual cake eating contest here in this county!" Excited cries and yelps rose up out of various part of the crowd.

"Now, without further ado, I will introduce last years and three time cake eating champion: Koji Morino!" The crowd _heard_ him coming before they saw him. The earth began to tremble from his thunderous footsteps. A large shadow eclipsed the lights on the stage, casting a planet sized shadow over the horrified crowd. The wooden floor boards moaned and sagged under his sneakered feet. Finally as this huge man took up center stage he was bathed in a lime colored spot light and people could finally see what he looked like: Long greasy hair tied into a ratty pony tail. Pasty, acne spotted face. He was wearing a plus sized, sweat stained Tee-shirt that proclaimed '_I'm in shape because I'm_ round'. He regarded the crowd before him with beady black eyes through his dirty glasses.

He turned around and surveyed the look of horrified expressions on the rest of the contestants, including Honey and gave a disgusting laugh. "Heh. I'll destroy you all. Including you, pipsqueak!" He said in his guttural voice, pointing at Honey. Said Lolita boy froze and began to tremble.

The Java-the-hut-wanna-be sauntered over to his massive chair and lone table opposite from the rest of the other contestants and sat down with a wheeze.

The announcer wiped a bit of sweat from his forehead and brought the mike up to his lips. He waited until after the cooks had finished placing a generous piece of key lime cake down before each of the contestants before he stated. "Round one: Start!"

All the contestants, including Honey, finished the first cake with relative ease. As soon as they were done eating, the cooks quickly ushered out slices of strawberry cake. "Round two: Start!"

Honey woofed the piece of cake down with barely any effort; Strawberries were his favorite. The other contestants, who were only in this to get free cake to begin with, started to slow down because they were feeling full.

"Round three: Start!" Honey tore into his piece of chocolate mousse cake with glee and licked the remaining whipped cream off his plate. By this time, the sickliest of the contestants passed out and fell off his chair foaming at the mouth.

The champion reached over, grabbed the fallen contestant's plate, and dumped the piece of cake into his disgusting maw. He glared at Honey challengingly as he chewed and swallowed the extra piece of cake.

Honey would not be intimidated though. He glared right back at Koji and stuck his tongue out at him.

_This kid's good…_The Champion reluctantly admitted to himself.

Mori had been keeping track of how many pieces of cake Honey had eaten at first. But then a second contestant fell, and then a third, a fourth, a fifth, until eventually it was just Honey and the old champion.

"Round eleven: start!"

For the first time since is rise as champion, Koji began to feel his stomach churn from being full. For a moment, the two contestants stared at each other across the gap between the tables.

"…I will not lose to you." Koji ground out before shoving the entire piece of orange cake into his mouth.

"Nor I to you." Mitsukuni said in his rare, serious voice and quickly polished off his piece of cake as well.

A few more rounds transpired such as thus. Then, Koji really began to feel the strain.

"Round seventeen!: Start!"

"_This is it…"_ Koji thought to himself. "_I'm done for. I can only eat this one last piece f cake and I'll croak. I can't take this anymore….heh heh…but I think one piece is all I'll need. Look at this little kid. He looks like he's about to cry out for mommy. Heh heh heh._"

It was true. Honey was slouched over in his seat, clutching his stomach, his eyes watering as if he were about to cry. His face was turning a pale green color and small whines issued from his cute, cake covered mouth.

"Uh-oh!" Cried the announcer. "Our new contestant gave it his all and fought admirably. But is this the end for our new challenger?"

"Heh…just –_urp_- give it up kid…you don't stand a chance..." Koji ground out. The champion looked as if he were going to puke for a moment, but then he grabbed the piece of cake with his fingers and shoved it all into his face and swallowed it without even chewing.

"Hey mister…" Honey called to him under his breath.

"Hunh?"

"You shouldn't underestimate me…" When Honey lifted his head again he met Koji's eyes with such determination and strength it made the fat man tremble. All signs of his queasiness were gone, and he looked as if her could go for at least another three rounds. "Because I eat cake for fun!"

The crowd erupted with applause as Honey eagerly began eating the piece of lemon cake in front of him.

"I-Impossible." Koji wheezed, beginning to teeter forward. "How could you…what in the world _are_ you?" Then, his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he came crashing forward down on to the table, unconscious.

The announcer made his way up on to the stage and held Mitsukuni's arm over his head. "Ladies and gentlemen we have ourselves a new champion!"

The crowd erupted with applause and cheers. Mori bounded up the stairs and was beside Honey in a moment. He had to admit he was impressed with Honey's cake eating prowess. The boy looked so determined and held himself with such confidence. Mori had no idea how tough he could b—

"Takeshi…" Came a weak little whimper down by his knees. Mitsukuni peered up at his best friend with large watery eyes that were spilling over with tears. "..Takeshi, my belly hurts…whaa haa!"

* * *

**That shiny thing on the ground that Kaoru found was my nickel named Boquisha Cherice. xD And that female ride attendant is a manifestation of all you fangirls/guys out there that support and want HikaHaru! Feel free to say she was you, because I did -w-**

**Hey guys. Sorry it took a little bit longer for me to finish this chapter than the previous ones. I think it's because this one is probably the longest out of all of them. That, and I didn't have this one typed out before hand. Anyway I'm kind of just playing this story by ear and seeing where it goes. I hope you guys like and you'll keep reading. Your reviews keep me going, they really do. And the Fav story and Authors help too. Thanks again for reading guys. Bye!**

**And now an excerpt from my crazy ass dreams:**

_On 5/29/12 I had a dream that me and my parents did drugs together. (which was obviously a dream because I've NEVER done and never WILL do drugs :() All of a sudden a floating haunted house appeared that was all glowy and stuffs and, using our super drugged up powers, flew to the roof and then swung inside a window. It was dark and scary in there and as I explored the rooms I was just waiting for a monster to jump out and scare me D: but none did and I turned on all the lights. Then my dream changed and apparently I was in the past and living as a resident inside the spooky house before it got all spooky. A law had just past through legislation that anime, manga, cosplay, coloring, singing, pokemon AND videogames were all BANNED. And I was like "No fucking way am I giving up my pokemans!" So like the holocaust I hid all of my "outlaws" away in a secret place underneath the floor boards in my closet. Then a little bratty girl saw me hiding them and was like "Jay's got crayons and manga" so I wrapped my hands around her little throat and squeezed, she chocked and started to claw at my fingers with wide startled eyes. I ground out through my teeth. "If you tell anyone about my stach…..I'll fucking kill you, you get me?" (now that I think about it, that seems like a really bad thing to do to a kid 0-0 but at the time in my dream I was just so mad that's what I did. But you should probably know that in waking life I really do hate little children) So the girl was like "I-I'll be quiet!" Then my dream changed again and I was a charmander with an umbrella (umbrellas again -_-") going to a photo shoot with Whitney Houston and Oprah Whinfrey. Fucking Charmeleon looked so much better than me :'( but it was SO obvious she'd been tanning._

**And then I woke up to an ordinary day.**

**Reader:…Uhm…are you **_**sure**_** you've never done drugs before?**


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